Radio City, Big Star, 1974

I had underrated this album. It’s more than "September Gurls" and "Back of a Car." It’s a genuine revelation. The big revelations this time are “Life Is White” and “Way Out West.” The album is remarkably consistent in musical tone and emotional tone. It looks ahead to Mitch Easter and Scott Miller and all the jangle-poppers but what distinguishes it as of its time is that the vocals are buried in the mix.

I think part of why the album didn’t click with me before is I was listening to it with impatient, punk-conditioned ears. It requires a bit of adjusting to its pace.

And how can I not mention William Eggleston’s cover, with its super-saturated red and the sex position posters cut off at the edge of the frame. The way it ignores the band and ostensibly, has no content whatever. Eggleston wasn’t famous yet in 1974.

The Big Star documentary, Big Star: Nothing Can Hurt Me, is going to be screened at SXSW as a work-in-progress.